The search for secret chambers within King Tut’s tomb has gained renewed momentum after an announcement made by Egypt’s Antiquities Minister yesterday, in which he asserted that he is more convinced than ever that there could be hidden doors.
Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty made the proclamation after visiting the tomb with British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves, who has been studying it. The team so far has found scratchings and markings on plaster of the northern and western walls which are remarkably similar to those found on the entrance to the tomb, according to a report from the Daily Mail.
Further high-resolution imaging “revealed several very interesting features which look not at all natural,” said Reeves. “They feature like very straight lines which are 90 degrees to the ground, positioned so as to correspond with other features within the tomb.” Such features are hard to notice with the naked eye.
“This indicates that the western and northern walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb could hide two burial chambers,” Minister el-Damaty told the Egyptian state press.
Was his tomb actually his?
The popular thought is that King Tutankhamun—who surprised everyone when he died young at age 19—had a rush burial, a notion backed by the fact that most artifacts inside weren’t made specially for Tut, but were actually donated secondhand.
And, because they didn’t have enough time to prepare him a tomb, he instead was placed inside someone else’s. This would fit with the features of the tomb, according to Reeves. Tut’s tomb is unusually small for his standing, and the shape of it more closely matches the shape of tombs made for Egyptian queens—so it seems likely he was added to some queen’s tomb.
But whose tomb was it? Obviously, there is no evidence yet, but there are two popular theories. Minister el-Damaty believes that Kia—the woman often believed to be Tut’s mother—is likely to be buried within. Reeves, however, is much more inclined to believe the tomb holds the famed Queen Nefertiti.
Buried with a babe
Back in the New Kingdom of Egypt some 3400 years ago, Nefertiti was the primary wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, or the king famous for attempting to turn Egyptian religion into a sort of monotheistic worship of the sun. After Akhenaten died, a pharaoh known as Smenkhare reigned, followed by Tut.
Reeves believes that Pharaoh Smenkhare may actually be Nefertiti. “Nefertiti disappears … according to the latest inscriptions just being found,” he said. “I think that Nefertiti didn’t disappear, she simply changed her name.”
It is possible, Reeves suggested, that Tut buried Nefertiti after she died. When he died and the Egyptians were in a pinch, they simply extended her tomb and added him in. “Since Nefertiti had been buried a decade before, they remembered that tomb was there and they thought, well, perhaps we can extend it,” he said.
According to Ahram Online, the archeologists are performing radar scans of the tomb. The results are scheduled to be announced on November 4th. However, even if another undisturbed tomb isn’t found, any new discovery helps archeologists in discovering the full history and culture of ancient Egypt.
“Every Egyptologist has got a different view on the Amarna period, because we have a lot of evidence to discuss but not just quite enough to make a final decision,” said Reeves. “If we find something extra, even one small new inscription would be a great bonus, it could change everything.”
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Feature Image: Wikimedia Commons
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